Later released, sued for libel by a prison official

The post-prison experience of Pussy Riot members Masha Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova just intensified. Following their recent trip to the U.S., they say they've been arrested by Russian police in Sochi, the Guardian reports. They had traveled to the site of the Winter Olympics to hold an anti-Putin Pussy Riot performance, but were detained on the street before they got the chance to do so.

"We were just walking around Sochi when they grabbed us," Tolokonnikova told the Guardian via phone from a police station. "They told us we are suspected of theft. Of course there has been no theft." She also said that she and Alyokhina have been closely followed by security since arriving in Sochi on Sunday. They were arrested alongside a group of fellow activists and journalists.

Tolokonnikova wrote on Twitter: "We are in Sochi in order to carry out Pussy Riot action... The song is called, 'Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland.'" Which is especially interesting, given that anonymous members of the Pussy Riot collective wrote an open letter earlier this month disassociating Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova from the group. The two maintain that they're still active members of Pussy Riot, and are not afraid to continue speaking out against Putin.

Update: Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova have been released from detainment, CNN reports. "A survey in connection with the theft at the Hotel Adler is completed, there is no claim against those questions," police offered in a statement. Tolokonnikova's husband, Petr Verzilov, explained that "they were put to the floor and beaten and physical force was used to them when they refused to be questioned without the presence of their lawyer, who was on his way to the police department."

"Lawyer came, the police became more affectionate," Tolokonnikova wrote on Twitter. She and Alyokhina are planning to file a complaint with the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. But they'll also have to contend with another new fight against Russian authorities, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Yuri Kupriyanov, an officer at the prison where Pussy Riot's members served their two-year sentence, is allegedly suing Tolokonnikova—and the website that published her statements—for libel for how she's described the prison. The hearing happens April 2.